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CREATIVE COMMUNITIES EXCHANGE

The CCX is a peer-to-peer exchange of the strategies used in successful creative economy initiatives around New England. CCX professional development workshops are for New England leaders who are engaged in creative economy and creative placemaking projects that leverage their local creative sector for the revitalization and growth of their broader community.Read more about the CCX and watch a highlight reel from the 2013 CCX.

CCX 2015 will take place in Keene, New Hampshire, a community that demonstrates strong cross-sector partnerships between the arts and local business, local government, the local colleges, the broader Monadnock region, and Arts Alive, this year’s local host. The event will take place in various locations, including Keene State College and downtown Keene.

Who Should Attend

Creative sector leader? Engage in creative place-making? Research or support the creative economy?

The CCX is shaped by participant's experiences. Participants are creative economy practitioners - or catalysts - from various sectors and types of organizations:

Priority will be given to first-time participants and organizations with budgets below $250,000

All event meeting spaces and hotels are accessible for individuals using wheelchairs. Please contact Daniela Jacobson (617.951.0010 x528) by March 23 if other accommodations are needed.

ccx workshops

Workshops focus on a single initiative, are strictly timed, and have a specific format: 20 minutes of how-to PowerPoint presentation, 20 minutes of Q&A discussion, and 20 minutes of networking time. Workshop leaders provide an instructional handout outlining their initiative.

WHAT DO WORKSHOPS FOCUS ON?

CCX workshops allow peers to exchange and discuss the specific strategies and steps taken by community creative economy initiatives that focus on various elements of the creative economy, such as: downtown revitalization, artists and civic engagement, impact data collection, planning, zoning, space development, and marketing. Browse NEFA's creative economy initiatives directory to find current projects from around the region, including 2011 and 2013 Creative Communities Exchange (CCX) workshops. The submission deadline for CCX 2015 workshops has passed, but new projects can be shared at any time.

CCX workshop projects generally fall within these four themes:

LEADERSHIP & PARTNERSHIPS: Organizational leaders building capacity within their organizations and communities through strong partnerships with local stakeholders.

HEADING DOWNTOWN: Innovative events and projects that catalyze the creative community and draw visitors and life to the economic centers.

POLICY & PLANNING: Programs that use information and cultural plans to implement policy and zoning decisions that affect all citizens of their local community.

SECTOR CONNECTOR: Model projects that use technology, networking, and training to enhance the capacity of the creative sector’s connections to other sectors.

Workshops must focus on the step-by-step process of a single creative economy initiative – not the work of entire organization.

Workshops are strictly timed and have a specific format: 20 minutes of how-to PowerPoint presentation, 20 minutes of Q&A discussion, and 20 minutes of networking time.

Workshop leaders create a how-to PowerPoint and a To Do checklist outlining the steps they would take to replicate the initiative in their own community. These are reviewed with a mentor in advance of the CCX.

Multiple peers (maximum 3) may present in one workshop, but they must collectively present one initiative in the allotted time.

Workshop leaders are also participants in the event and are expected to attend the entire 1.5-day event.